"I have utmost respect for AGP grassroot workers who havetoiled hard to adhere to the party''s ideology of making thestate free of foreigners by pushing them back. But theleadership have moved far away it," he told a rally in whichhe joined BJP.

The AGP leadership has aligned itself to forces who arein favour of Bangladeshis and opposed to the interest of theindigenous Assamese. "This is against my conscience andpolitical belief and this is my main reason for leaving AGP,"Sonowal, a former All Assam Students Union leader said.

"When I asked BJP President Nitin Gadkari why he and itsother senior leaders wanted me to join the party, they saidthey wanted to solve the burning issue of illegal infiltrationby Bangladeshis and that they wanted to make Assam a frontranking state of the country," he added.

He attacked the ruling Congress government of TarunGogoi for allegedly conspiring to give legitimacy toBangladeshis and endangering the "very existence of theindigenous Assamese".